The Night Crew Blog

The Night Crew Blog

Arrival at Check Point 5 - Washington

Not a good start!  We were scheduled to take over from the indefatigable ladies’ support crew, who had braved all the few check points which weren’t so inundated with the Monsoon rains that Lyn’s trusty four wheel drive vehicle could navigate the mud.  Check point five was closed to further vehicles and those which had made it in, had to be towed out by a farmer/tractor!  So we parked just off the A24, and walked, home-made scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam in hand, to the check point, where we joined the retiring support crew. 

Steve and I put on our best trainers, and walked against the flow of walkers, ankle deep in mud, to meet the walking team – “Vale Venturers”; hereafter referred to as team “VV” to avoid more RSI than necessary.  We found them about a mile up the path, in very high spirits.  The conditions were well beyond “Epic”.

Team VV had a well deserved break in the support crew shelter, passionately decorated by the female support crew; a feat which the male support team (we) would never be able to replicate even in dry conditions!  My home-made scones were rejected in favour of a pasta meal.  How dare they!

Before their departure to the next check point, team VV were presented with base ball caps, lovingly prepared by Lyn; baseball caps with a difference; Lyn had taped pictures of each team member’s favourite male hunk to a stick, which was suspended on the sun visor of each baseball cap, dangling tantalisingly in front of each team member’s boat race.  The idea was pure brilliance; team VV would be spurred to the finish line by sex!  In practice, the stair rods of water put paid to the plan, with sex-symbol pictures falling sadly to the ground before the psychology had a chance to be tested.  I reckon had the plan worked, team VV would have won the race!

Becky announced that her feet were losing the battle against blisters and made a plea to pull out.  However, we persuaded her to carry on to the next CP, hoping that we could continue with the “bite sized” chunk approach to the end of the course.  Team VV had done a sterling job of passing the half way mark, and we wanted to give it our all to make sure they reached the end as a complete team.

After a cheeky cream tea with Lyn, Karen and Emma, a quick transfer of the team kits from Lyn’s 4WD to our borrowed Ford S-Max was arranged in the pouring rain along with “several tonnes” of home-made cake paraphernalia, which we failed miserably to offload back to Lyn. (“So and so made that cake for Sandra; you have to take it, however wet it is!”)

CP6 - Botolphs

So, CP6 bound, with a firm request in mind from the team for a chip purchase for team VV.  This country is famous for the abundance of its fish and chip shops, but scarcity or non-existence is the word en route to CP-6.  We had failed to procure the potato fuel that was so desperately needed by our brave team, and prepared ourselves for a deserved “roasting”.  Perhaps “roasted” support crew was a moral substitute for rain sodden, cold and sub-standard chips!  The small business owner who spots the gap in the market; a chip van which can follow the Trail Walkers en route, will clean up!

To add insult to injury, the car-park at CP6 was like a peace-time version of “The Somme”.  We were therefore forced to make the best of a road-side base where foot repairs were promptly dealt with; plasters, talc, fresh socks. 

Time for team VV departure; a bombshell was delivered:

Becky to Paul:

 “My feet and neck hurt, I didn’t sleep last night and I can’t go on!”

 Paul to Becky:

 “Head for the next check point, then see how you feel; we can patch up the blisters, and give you drugs for the neck pain!”

 Sandra to Becky:  “Be warned that spending the night in the car with Paul and Steve is a fate worse than a night out with Beavis and Butthead!  The pain to the finish line is a blessing in comparison!”

 Becky:

 “I’ll take my chances!”

Despite our best efforts, our powers of persuasion, and promise to Lyn that “no-body would pull out on my watch”, we could not overcome Becky’s determination to finish at CP-6.

I wonder, after putting up with Steve’s untimely bodily functions, in a very confined space, whether Becky now looks back and wonders if finishing the course was less of an endurance test than spending the night with the Denbigh brothers?!  May be she was blissfully unaware as she slept off forty miles of gruelling trail walker.  As the driver, I know where I would have rather been!

Team VV had lost a member, but while upsetting, nothing was going to stop Sue, Sandra and Vicky. 

  

CP7 – Devil’s Dyke

CP 7 was also inundated with mud and water.  We ushered the VV girls into the Turkish mud bath of hot food tent, where they tucked into some wholesome Ghurkha grub.

Then, back to the roadside make-shift refuge, where Steve and I got to work on replenishing the teams’ “foot tread work”, patching up, with Compeed  “puncture repair kits”.  Compeed’s dividends must be up this year! 

CP8 – Jack and Jill’s Pyecombe Golf Club Car Park

CP8 – closed to the support crew.  We had to conjure up a plan.  The low pressure weather system had rained on all our plans for hot bacon rolls, home-made pancakes and warm, dry refuge for our VV girls.  It’s so hard, with no street lights, and only a head torch, to find your way through the cavernous depths of a dark S-Max boot to dig out the provisions your team are crying out for, and you feel you’re letting them down when the pressure is on, to get them up and running for the next gruelling stint.

Luck at last!  On the trip from CP7 to CP8 we spotted, a perfect make shift base right next to the golf course; a dry side road with a flat strip of grass.  This would be the blokes’ support crew redemption! 

We set out a table, chairs, and stoves.  Tea and porridge were brewed, and were well received by the tired and demoralised team, who I think were pleased to see us ahead of the next check point.  

A home-made pancake with lashings of energy fuelled golden syrup was cooked up and served to a fatigued and flailing Vicky. 

The feet medication routine was now executed with practiced precision, and a shoulder massage for Sue was met with welcoming sounds of pleasure!  May be support crew membership had its merits after all! 

They and we could now see the “light at the end of the tunnel”.  The team left us, spirits a little more elevated, and we reassured them the next stop would be at sun-rise where hot bacon rolls would be waiting.

CP-8 – Shut :(

CP9 – Kingston Hollow

Morale in our support crew was now running high; this was the first field in which we were able to navigate Sue’s S-Max Ford without traction loss.  The grass was long and dry.  The sun was starting to show over the horizon, lighting the horizon sky with a bronze tint and the finish line over the hill. Epic!  We had a little time to absorb the beauty of the surroundings, before setting to work on grappling with the erection of Sue’s gazebo.

Steve and I fancied a stroll, and set off along the course in the hope of catching up with team VV.  After half an hour of walking or so; Paul to Steve:  “They must be around the next corner??” and so on and so forth.  One hour later, and after what must have been getting on for four miles, we started to wonder whether they had left CP8, or whether the massage there was too nice to leave alone.  These Ghurkhas have a lot to answer for!  Finally, at the top of the hill, we saw our girls in the distance.  I think they were pleased to see two dashing young geezers, ready to offer them a free ride for their rucksacks! (I didn’t phrase that last sentence very well; I’m sure their rucksacks aren’t worth that much!)  We force fed them chocolate bars and drinks.  I think we were able to help them up the pace a little, as understandably, after walking through the whole night, they were now a tad weary.

On arrival back at CP9, Becky had prepared the bacon rolls, which were devoured like a pack of hungry wolves (or should I say, with a high degree of dignity by three very deserving young ladies) – wait for the slap!

You guessed it; more feet care!  Then, Steve joined the VV girls on the final leg while Becky and I drove to Brighton race course, the finish line.

I set out on foot again with Sue’s husband Paul, who had finished Trail Walker with his team a sickening several hours before, and still had the energy to join me to meet his beloved wife, Sue.  I was expecting to find team VV substantially dragging their heals on the final leg.  Not a bit of it!  We had walked barely two miles back up the course from the Brighton finish line, before the high spirited team appeared over the hill, and raced with us to the finish line, pressing right through the wall of blister pain and aching limbs.

Well done team VV.  We are so proud of you, the sixty two miles you endured and the thousands you raised for Oxfam and the Ghurkha Trust.